Adversarial! The Dark Side of Lila Sawyer
by Inudaughter Returns
Summary: Lila Sawyer seems like such a sweet girl, doesn't she? But is she really? When Helga G. Pataki gets in her way for a blue, prize-winning ribbon to the school district's sewing contest, will little miss perfect actually get... bad! A Helga versus Lila story.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay folks, here is pretty much little more than an opening teaser for a new story. I probably won't finish it really soon. I need to force myself to rest. But I plan to pick up this tale eventually, and another called Sheena Greene Gets Mean. Take care!**

On the surface of things, Lila Sawyer was a modest girl. Her clothes were prim and proper. Her words demure. But these were graceful poses she had learned. The definition of femininity for the country girl. Beneath that soft exterior in her deepest heart, there was a darker side!

Lila Sawyer was adversarial. She loved, no just had to be the best! Secretly, she loved to be the center of a crowd. She loved to harvest the compliments the boys gave her as she told jokes. Usually, the more demure she acted the more she got. But there was another way. Her proudest way. In a sense, Lila shared a whole lot with her 'Big Sis' Olga Pataki because she had an awards display on her wall and a desire, nay obsession, to win contests. Especially sewing contests.

Lila Sawyer opened the curtains to her little room in the city house where she and her father had come to live a year and a half ago The sunlight beamed onto a blue ribbon Lila had won for horsemanship, then a long row of slender ribbons she had framed up like a painting. Lila admired these slender ribbons, a deep sigh of happiness leaving her breath. She counted them once, then twice. Five whole ribbons! Lila had won every single annual quilting Bee she had entered since she was five. Then she had a whole handful of crafts fair awards, usually a paper certificate, and these were also plastered on her walls.

Not unlike how Helga worshiped her Arnold Shrine in the morning, Lila knelt onto a pillow to open a scrapbook and admire the pictures of herself winning awards within! Then, hugging the album to her heart, Lila placed it back on her shelf. She looked at the awards display on her wall again with a gentle sigh, then removed a sheet of paper from beneath her pillow. Then she elegantly walked down to the breakfast table.

"Hello, Daddy!" Lila said in an enthusiastic mood and gave her father in the sweatsuit a quick, fond hug. Then Lila sat down at the breakfast table.

"You're in a good mood today, pumpkin!" her father ambled out to Lila. The girl placed the piece of her paper in her hand down on the table top, then smoothed it out reverently.

"I'm going to enter a sewing contest!" said Lila proudly. "I'm sure it will ever be so fun!"

"And I'm sure you'll win, pumpkin!" said her father patting her hand supportively. Lila beamed, vainly.

"Yes, I'm ever so certain that I shall!"

The classroom was mostly full when Lila Sawyer walked into it. She had paused outside in the hall for fifteen minutes to tell jokes to the boys who admired her. Helga G. Pataki was seated behind Arnold to the far left and as usual, giving her a warning stare to not so much as look too long at the boy. The jealous waves almost rolled off Helga like a force field, all while Arnold naively read a little book.

But Lila wasn't the least bit interested in Arnold. At least, not these days. Instead, Lila lowered herself onto her chair seat slowly and gracefully, ever so carefully to make sure her skirt would not crease in an odd way. Lila waited with mounting anxiety for their teacher, Mr. Simmons to walk in.

"Hello, class!" said the man with a hand held high over his head in salute. "Welcome back for another bright and new, beautiful day! I must remind you class, that all entrance forms for our district's sewing contest must be handed in today!" Lila stood up from her chair, the required form held pressed against her chest. Lila walked up to Mr. Simmons and lay the paper down on his desk. The teacher smiled at her.

"So, Lila, you'll be entering this year's contest?" said Mr. Simmons picking up the page and glancing over it to make sure it had been filled out correctly. Lila gave a modest chuckle and a curtsey. "Why, yes, I'm ever so certain I'm so very excited! I adore sewing competitions so much! Just ever so much!"

"Well, such enthusiasm," said Mr. Simmons placing Lila's entry form back down on the desk, "is welcome! We want all the participation from P.S. 118!" Mr. Simmons said swing his fist. "Who knows, maybe someone from our school will win the district contest and make us all proud!"

"Oh" said Lila making a tsking sound. "I think so!" For Lila was ever so certain she would win!

Lila stepped aside for Eugene Horowitz to turn his form in. Rhonda Lloyd was entering, too, which was predictable for she loved fashion more than anything else. Phoebe Heyerdahl and Sheena Greene were a little less expected participants. They must have been entering not to in, but just participate for the fun of it, because neither were very interested in clothes or fashion. As Lila continued to scope out her competition there came a very unexpected entry. Helga Pataki stood up from her desk and left her place as guard to Arnold for a few moments to turn an entry form in. Lila blinked.

"Helga? You…" said Lila utterly shocked, for as far as she knew Helga could hardly sew at at. At least if the costume she made for the Romeo and Juliet play was any proof! Helga turned her head slightly at the gawking girl.

"Oh, hi Lila," she said mildly, slapping down her entry from on Mr. Simmon's desk then leaning on the edge of the desk by one arm, her ankle crossed as she posed with a domineering smile. "How's tricks?"

"Well, gosh, Helga!" said Lila laughing nervously. "I never knew you liked sewing!"

"Are you kidding!" Helga said pointing to the application form. "Did you read the prize list?! I've just got to enter! A two hundred dollar gift certificate to the Nancy Spumoni catalog! I've just got to win it! Just got to win!" said Helga with glee. Nancy Spumoni was her all-time favorite clothing brand. She rattled on.

"There's this new kind of swimming suit my Dad won't spring for, lace up with embossed steel rivets, flared skirt waist line on shorts! I've just gotta have it! Just got to have it!" said Helga with joy and greed. Lila almost back away.

"Well that's great, Helga!" Lila said. "Ever so great!" And it didn't matter, she thought. Because there was no way Helga could sew. Was there? But much to Lila's horror, she would soon find out she could!

TO BE CONTINUED.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author note: Someone asked for me to finish this story so I am making that effort. One thing I noticed about Helga from the show is that she has good fashion sense so I'm going along with that.**

A sewing contest! Lila was giddy with delight. She loved to win sewing contests and so far only Rhonda, Helga, Phoebe, Eugene, and Sheena in her class had entered. Standing beside Mr. Simmon's desk, Lila considered her known competition. Sheena and Rhonda might be hard to beat. But Lila was more than certain she had nothing to fear from Helga and Phoebe. All of Phoebe's clothes were firmly department store wares. Helga had sewn the hideous Juliet dress for Mr Simmon's school play which Sheena had ultimately scrapped, and this monstrosity was the only piece of Helga's craft which Lila's pride remembered. She giggled once, recalling how ugly the thing had been. Then, in the next moment, Lila clasped her hands together over her heart, blinked, and conjured up the image of what would be near greatest creation. A ballgown, perhaps, of dazzling, shimmering white with gloves and a tiara to match. In Lila's head, a tiny sparrow would perch on her shoulder. Then, as she blinked cutely, entire flocks of such sparrows would twirl all around her in rapture. All the crowds would cheer for her as Lila would sing a happy lala song and a cute little white scottish terrier would beg to be adopted by her just because the dress she had made was so perfect.

"Thank you, thank you!" Lila said inside her head wearing her ever-so-perfect dress. Lila imagined all of her classmates and a good many of strangers she did not even know complimenting her on her new white ballgown. In the real world, Lila was still wearing her green and plaid dress, and no one was around to adore her, but her eyes glittered with sharpness. This was one contest she just had to win. Her pride demanded it.

So, after the last school bell had rung, some students tossing sheetfuls of paper up in the air to celebrate the weekend, Lila wandered slowly down the halls with two books pressed against her chest. Lila walked almost in slow motion so that she could greet and be greeted by those students who lingered near their lockers still, getting rid of their unwanted books. Lila savored the dozen compliments tossed her way about her hair, her bowties, the perfectly ironed state of her dress, her delightful sense of humor, and her recent A on an art project. Then Lila made her way out the doors of P.S.118. Stood still, Lila gave everyone of the staircase time to add more compliments to her daily quota, before walking down the staircase like a her toes were porcelain. The extra effort to glide instead of walk made her look alluringly more dainty and approachable. The admiring gaze of several boys followed Lila's descent down the stairs. Then Lila ascended into a yellow school bus which was filling rapidly with chattering students.

The school bus that Arnold shared with Helga and Gerald had never looked worse. Three of the seats at the back were losing their stuffing. Kids had poked the green faux leather with pencils and prying fingers to make ugly tears. One of the seat cushions had worn out springs, now taped down into place by seven layers of gray duct tape. That seat was the one to especially avoid, and geeks like Brainy and Eugene often got stuck with it, hoping not to get stuck by a cruel metal spring as it worked its way through the duct tape. But Lila had no need for a last choice seat like that. Instead, she curtsied before one of the girls a grade higher than herself and battered her eyes.

"Hello. My name is Lila! I like your hair barrette ever so much! May I sit here with you?"

"Yeah, you may," said the girl. "You're such a sweet girl, aren't you? My name's Megan Stiletto."

"Pleased to me you Megan," Lila purred. "Just ever so pleased!"

"Wherever did you get such a delightful hair piece?" Lila asked, falling into the natural rhythm of a rather flattering conversation.

"Oh, this old thing? I got it from my older sister, Nancy," said Megan tugging on her hair, hoping to impress the underclassman. It was a strange magic which Lila worked on others, making them thirst for another dose of her elegantly cut praise. But one seat forward across the hall, two pairs of eyes looked back towards Lila, the owners whom both now seemed immune to her praise. No compliments from her, these days, could stir a giddy smile from either of them.

"Hello, Lila," Arnold Shortman greeted Lila from the window seat. He wore a dull, bored, almost annoyed gaze as he looked towards his old crush. Beside Arnold, seated at the isle's edge, Helga's face flickered with a touch of nervous jealousy. But Arnold had gone back to looking outside the bus window again, so she took a deep breath of relief, then smiled toward her sometimes friend Lila.

"Hey, Lila. How's it shaking?" Helga quipped.

"Great! Just ever so great!" said Lila hugging her two schoolbooks to her chest with enthusiasm. "I'm going to the fabric store tomorrow!"

"For the contest, right?" said Helga scratching her chin as she narrowed her eyes in thought. "Well, good luck! But I'm going to win that contest for myself!" said Helga jerking a thumb backwards in her direction. "You just wait!" Helga ended with a friendly jeer. Lila laughed with a soft giggle.

"Oh, don't think that I'm rude for saying so. But… I really doubt you will be the one to win the contest, Helga."

"Yeah? Well, I'll see you at the finish line. Lila," said Helga as the bus rolled to a squeaky stop near Lila's rundown historic home at the eastern edge of Arnold's neighborhood. Unrattled, Lila descended the staircase of the bus then stepped daintily down onto the pavement.

"Hello, Daddy!" said Lila greeting her father. He was freshening the porch steps with paint from a tin pail. "Do you have today off from work?"

"Hello there, Lila. No, I'm just doing a few chores before I begin a night shift," her brown-haired parent patiently explained.

"Oh, Daddy, you're just so dear! Just ever so dear!" Lila declared. "Let me help!"

"Now, now Lila!" said her father. "You'll get paint all over your clothes. Tell you what, you can help me by going into the kitchen and making some snacks. All this painting is making me hungry."

"I'll have some lemonade and cookies waiting on the table for you!" said Lila with a smile as she trotted indoors. She found some lemonade and cookies in the fridge and set them out on the table as asked. Then she trotted into her room, pulled a cardboard box full of dress designs from under her bed onto the top of her comforter, then flopped down onto her belly. Full of joy, the girl kicked her feet out in the air behind her. Lila pulled one paper envelope stuffed with a brown tissue paper pattern out, then another, then another until she had gone through her entire box. None of these patterns were satisfying to Lila. Whatever it was she was going to do next, it had to be big and fancy and impressive to outdo Rhonda and Sheena.

On a street south of the canal, Helga dumped a box of sewing bits and bobs out onto her bedroom floor. She fingered through it, finding the stockpile thoroughly inadequate. Helga cradled her chin in thought.

Lila Sawyer never considered it possible that Helga G. Pataki might be able to sew well enough to rival her in the school district sewing contest. But caught up in her pride of her own abilities, Lila had overlooked two important things. One, Lila had never stopped to ask if Helga did know how to sew. Truthfully, the girl with the pink dress did. The gown she had worn as Cecil during her Valentine's date was a dress she had radically altered to make it beautiful.

Two, Lila had forgotten what her own eyes had seen- evidence that Helga could sew. Helga had worn something she had made herself in front of Lila once before. It had been a green dress with puffy shoulders exactly like the one Lila wore everyday, made especially for the costume party at which Helga had masqueraded as Lila. Every inch of that dress was handstitched.

But there was little left in Helga's box of sewing stuff but old pins in a tomato-shaped cushion and spools of thread. Helga threw one such spool over her shoulder back into its box, then dialed up Phoebe on her phone.

"Hey, Phoebe!" Helga said with a smile. "What are you doing tomorrow morning?"

But tomorrow morning had more than Helga and Phoebe rummaging through bins, grins on their faces as they plotted together. Rhonda Lloyd was there, too, having a discussion with the shopkeeper.

"I want the best and most expensive fabric you carry in this store!" Rhonda declared with her arms folded. "Anything less will not do," she sniffed. The shopkeeper pulled down a bolt of fabric with a very large, green price tag.

"I suppose this print will do," Sheena mumbled to herself, holding it up against her shirt front. A mellow, yellow floral print with multicolored flowers on it suited her perfectly. Down the aisle from her, Eugene was getting some solid bolts of cloth.

"I have an inspiration!" said geeky Eugene waving a hand in front of his face as if he were revealing a banner. "Manitude!"

"Well, gee, that sounds alright," Sheena squeaked in her usual, breathless voice.

Lila rang out of the fabric shop and, her nose held high up in the air, proceeded back home. Despite her classmates' enthusiasm, or rather because of it, she was more determined than ever to make this new dress her greatest creation ever. Holed up in her room, the rain clouds rolled in as Lila sewed and stitched, her normally ever-so-perfect hair frizzling and her braids standing up at a quirky angle. Lila's face took on a look of determination as she pulled an all-nighter. Lightening flashed, thunder rumbled, then the rain faded away to reveal a calmer, glassy, rain-glossed night. The sound of Big Barney sounded across the sleepy city of Hillwood and the nearly full moon looked down through Lila's window as the girl finally laid her creation down on the surface of her bed to admire it, smoothing the seams gently with one hand.

"There!" said the girl. A smug smile was on Lila's freckled face. "It just needs a bit of ironing in the morning!" Lila yawned. She folded up the full-length gown she had made, set it on her shelf, then tucked herself into bed for the night.

Lila needn't have hurried. There was still a full month before the contest's deadline. But as the weeks went by, Lila sat beside and heard many of the rivals for the competition talk about the clothing they were making as their own entries. Each time, her perfect smile rumpled into a nervous pause before she forced a pleasant, but false smile back onto her lips.

"It's going great, really great!" Lila overheard Eugene telling Sheena. "I'm making another clogging outfit for myself only I'm going to need more fabric for a bandana. Accessories, you know."

"Oh, well, I'm keeping it simple," said Sheena of the summer dress she was working on. "Just two straps at the shoulders and it's finished! Of course, I'll need some white shoes to go with it," Sheena mumbled out pointing to her large feet.

"That sounds so neat!" Eugene complimented. Caught staring, Lila turned and looked away at the blackboard.

"Bah! I'm not entering no girly contest!" Harold declared as loudly and as obnoxiously as he could. "I think I'd puke!"

"Me neither!" said Stinky.

"Yeah!" thirded Sid.

At lunchtime, Phoebe was waving a hand over the top of her sandwich and Rhonda was leaning down across the surface of the table where Arnold, Helga, Gerald, and herself were sitting. Lila heard the word 'pins' and could not help but shuffle her chair closer and tilt her head a wee bit to one side to better eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Well, blue and black always look good on you!" Rhonda declared. "But I'm more partial to expensive, natural fibers, myself. I will be making an evening piece for my next big party. REAL silk with a cashmere wrap," Rhonda boasted proudly.

"Wow, Rhonda!" Phoebe explained. "That sounds better than my business suit will be. I wonder if I have any chance of winning at all. Maybe I should withdraw from the contest." said Phoebe looking sad for a mere moment. "But then, mother and father are being really supportive. They both decided I should try to do new things I won't be good at to gain experience and confidence."

"We've all got to lose once in awhile, eh?" asked Helga taking a bite out her sandwich.

"Exactly!" chimed Phoebe. "Even if I don't lose to the other kids, I'm sure to lose to you! The dress you are making is breath-takingly beautiful." Awkward, Helga gently flicked her near-empty milk carton so that it made a solid, "thump-slosh" sound.

"Oh come on!" said Helga flicking her fingers again in the empty air. "Don't make a big deal out of it! And what are you staring at? Lila?" a tense Helga asked when spotting the eavesdropper who had scooted her chair even nearer.

"I beg your pardon," Lila said standing up and scooting the chair around completely so that it turned towards the table as it should. "I didn't mean to be rude! I just think that your enthusiasm is oh so great. Just ever so much."

"Hm," said Helga deciding to ignore her. Her sandwich seemed more important than hearing out excuses.

But every where Lila went, there seemed to be new rivals to worry about. When she sat at the library two girls from another class giggled over a magazine, searching for an idea for their own entry.

"Oh, my!" said Lila out loud to her 'buddy' for their geography homework of the day. "There seem to be an awful lot of people competing."

"Well, yeah! Of course!" said Eugene smiling. "The contest is for the whole district, so other schools are participating, too. Isn't that exciting! Normally, no one cares about these little things, but hey! I'm game for almost anything! I didn't want to be left out on opening night."

"Well, if there are so many people competing," said Lila, her braids sagging, "even upperclassmen, then maybe the dress I made isn't good enough to win. Maybe I have to make another!"

"It isn't about winning!" Eugene complained, cheerfully. "It's about whether or not you participate! Nobody likes a stick in the mud."

"Yeah. I guess," Lila said mildly.

Yet the advice Eugene had given Lila shed off her back like water off a duck. As soon as she got home, Lila looked at her dress miserably. To her eyes it just wasn't fancy enough. "Hm," she said fingering the skirt edge in thought.

Grand opening day came and by that time, Lila had made a whole new entire dress. All of the entries were lined up in the gymnasium of a local high school. Lila might have felt very small in the sight of all the scary, towering teenagers, but inside she felt very tall with pride. Lila knew she had sewn a dress that very few adults could compete with. It had taken every last bit of money in her piggy bank and gleaning from friendly older women, but she had made a dress fit for Cinderella herself.

"Oh, my gosh!" said Rhonda Lloyd her mouth agape as she saw Lila's glittering creation. The next moment, she pumped Lila's hand up and down in her fist.

"You and I have just got to work together! I have this whole fall clothing line envisioned! I call it 'the Rhonda Lloyd Label'!" said Rhonda gesturing a hand into the air wildly as if she could see objects instead of the school's painted concrete wall in front of her. "You see, your sewing is good, but my design skills are in the know, so…" Rhonda rattled on at length about the latest fashions. Lila listened politely, but she could not help but crane her head towards the other contest entries. One of the high school entries was quite good. Sheena's entry was humble but cute. But Lila gasped and covered her hand with her mouth when she saw her fellow classmates standing front of a little pink evening dress.

"Wow, Helga!" said Eugene. "Your contest entry looks great!"

"Heh, well your outfit ain't too shabby, either!" said Helga giving a momentary, sideways glance at Eugene. "Come on Phoebes! Let's go get a soda or something." Lila eyed the dress Helga had made with with green-eyed envy. It used less fabric than hers, but it was both modern and skillfully made, with a complex, partially sequinned strap back, revealing shoulders, and an asymmetrical, side-slit skirt. It made her Cinderella dress look archaic. Worse, people were lingering to look at it.

Silently, Lila panicked. Covering her mouth so none could hear her soft exclamations of worry, she ran into the girls bathroom, then began to pace, her braids rapidly swaying beside her as she marched back and forth along the tiled room, her arms tucked behind her back.

"Oh, what do I do!" Lila stated out loud at last. She looked down and there in the corner she spotted a bottle of bleach. Her eyes softened, then hardened with devious intent. Then, with the look of desperation and almost (but not quite) sorry for what she was about to do, Lila poured the bottle of bleach onto her hands, then wandered back out the bathroom. When no was looking, she dragged her bleach covered hands down all the front of Helga's dress. Then, feeling a bit more ashamed of herself by the minute, Lila scooted away as quick as she could.

"Um, say Helga?" said Phoebe about forty minutes later. "There looks like a stain on the front of your dress. See?" Phoebe pointed.

"Hm, let's see," said Helga. She licked her thumb and rubbed it along the "stain" on her dress, then stared with astonishment as the color continued to pale. A bit of it had rubbed off on her thumb instead.

"Uh oh! Phoebes! Hand me some cloth!" said the sabotaged girl. Her eyebrows lowered with rage as the stain only worsened when a bit of water was applied to the fabric front. Helga threw down her cloth in disgust.

"Ah! Who would do this?!" said Phoebe, horrified.

"Someone very desperate to win," said Helga slanting her eyes down the hall towards where Lila's dress was displayed. Lila herself had disappeared from sight.

"Um, excuse me miss!" said the judge approaching Lila from where she hid in the corner of the gym, her eyes downcast. "I'd like to have a few words with you if I could."

"Well, sure!" said Lila, her nervous laughter trickling out to cover her anxiety. "I could do that!" Grim-faced, the judge led Lila towards a small room where Helga and two other judges were waiting. Helga's arms were crossed, and she gave Lila a grim, unamused frown.

"I've brought you two girls here," said the judge holding up the two contest entries, both Helga's and Lila's, "because there is something we'd like to discuss with both of you. To be honest, we were having difficulty deciding on which of these two dresses to award first place. Both of them are tied for second, currently. But then, this stain appeared on young Helga's entry and I want to ask you two girls, do either of you know anything about this?" The judge gave Lila a grim frown, even more unpleasant than Helga's had been.

"I… I…" said Lila looking at the floor between her shoes in shame. "I did…"

"I made those spots myself, pops," said Helga suddenly placing a hand round Lila's shoulder, astonishing the girl in the green dress. "An accident! My mistake! I must not have been too careful handling it. I'm happy with second place."

"Are you certain, young lady?" asked the judge, shocked. "If there's anything you'd like to say to me privately…"

"Nah, I'm sure!" Helga declared unflinchingly. "Her dress is better than mine. Took a lot more hours. Like I said, second place is cool with me."

"Well, then," said the judge. "If so, then Miss Lila, we will acknowledge your HONEST work and award you first place." Lila paled.

"Gosh!" she said. "I don't know what to say! I'm ever so sure I don't deserve it," said the girl, a touch of truth and misery staining her voice.

"Yeah, yeah," said Helga. "Now I'd like a word with you for a moment. 'Scuse us!" said Helga leading Lila out of the room the judges were in. She cornered Lila by the wall.

"Now listen here, Lila!" said Helga, her monobrow lowering to its meanest. "I know what you did- ruining my dress so you could win. But I'm being nice because we're 'friends'. You've helped me out in the past." said Helga making air quotes and rolling her eyes back with sarcasm. "I'll let you off, but there's one thing I want in return. The prize-money."

"I beg your pardon," said Lila astonished. "You want what?!"

"The prize-money," Helga repeated calmly. "Let me put it this way. I have a reputation of being mean to defend. But you, you've got the opposite problem. Everyone expects you to be nice and only nice. If it gets around school what you did today, your reputation will be in shambles."

"Oh please don't do that!" Lila begged. "I'm ever so sorry for what I did! Just ever so much! Truly. I just was so desperate. I didn't…"

"Think about the consequences enough," Helga finished for her. "Yeah, yeah, I've been there all before. I've hurt people but ya know? Carma is a pain. There isn't just regret. If I wasn't so forgiving, you wouldn't have just been disqualified from the contest for what you did. It might have made me hate you forever. Me and all the girls. Your social capital would be zero. Did you really stop to dwell on that?" asked Helga mildly, looking at Lila through her lowered eyelids.

"No, well, I…" said Lila looking very ashamed.

"Great. So now that we're at an understanding, when you get that prize check, you and I are both going shopping and you are going to buy me a brand new Lightning series Nancy Spumoni swimsuit, got that?" said Helga steering Lila around by her shoulder. "And in the meantime, you're going to buy me another soda. Got that pal?"

"Right," said Lila wearing a deeply shamed face. "Or maybe I should go back to the judges and confess."

"Either way, so long as I get my swimsuit," said Helga dragging Lila along.

But after Helga waved to Lila and headed off home with her second place ribbon in hand, Lila, who was really a sweet girl beneath it all, began to cry. She handed her award back to the judges.

"I can't accept this!" she sniffed before explaining.

When Lila descended from the school bus the next day, the schoolyard was eerily quiet. No one greeted her with good morning at first. Sid did eventually, but Stinky nudged him in the ribs to be quiet. Rhonda sniffed her nose up at Lila. Feeling meek, Lila walked forward to find her friends Katrinka and Gloria. Both of the girls frowned at her.

"We heard what you did, Lila!" said Gloria waving a finger. "But we'll forgive you if you're really sorry!"

"I am!" Lila protested. "I ever so am! I hope you'll believe me."

"Well, alright!" said Katrinka, much to Lila's relief. But going back into her classroom was much harder for Lila. Everybody stared. The eyes were burning holes through her.

"Alright, alright!" said Helga. "That's enough! Good one, Lila!" said Helga with a blink. "You got me good, but next time, it's your turn!" Harold let out a short laugh.

"Yeah! Good one! Who wanted to go see all those girly dresses, anyway!"

"Besides," said Helga. "I just bleached the whole thing and redyed it. No harm done."

"Oh! I'm glad!" said Lila hugging her books tight to her heart.

A week later, Lila and Helga sat together at booth at Slausen's. Helga slurped vanilla ice cream off the back of a spoon, while Lila jabbed her spoon at her orange sherbet without much appetite. A shopping bag lay at Helga's feet.

"Wow, Helga," said Lila laughing nervously. "I can't believe one swimsuit could be so expensive!" Helga shrugged.

"Well, I can't believe you confessed to the judges after all I did for you to get you off the hook. But it's your business, I guess."

"Well, I learned my lesson." said Lila smiling weakly. She held up a hand in pledge. "No more cheating. I promise. No matter what!"

"Now you're boring me," said Helga. "It's one thing to say you'll always be good, forever and ever, but another thing to do it. Just say that you'll try. Not that you will."

"Okay," said Lila with a genuine smile. "You know what, Helga, it's funny. I guess I'm not good all the time. Now that everybody knows that, not everyone wants to be my friend anymore. It's ever so sad sometimes. But you know what? You're not as bad as you seem, Helga! I think that if you just practice being nicer, everyone will like you someday."

"I'm not trying to win a popularity contest," said Helga. "But thanks, Lila. You're not too terrible yourself. That and I need a catcher at Gerald's Field."

"I'll be at the next practice!" Lila assured her. The end.


End file.
